SINGAPORE — A man who rammed a Changi Airport robot with an airport trolley while he was suffering from a schizophrenic episode was sentenced to four weeks' jail on Wednesday (May 17).

Carlos Daniel Alves de Sousa, 40, pleaded guilty to a single charge of committing mischief.

De Sousa, a Portuguese national living in Singapore, has been in remand at the Institute of Mental Health and in prison since April 20.

He had been walking around Jewel Changi Airport on March 24 when he used a luggage trolley to ram a robot known as a Patrol and Traffic Enforcement Robot (Peter), belonging to Certis Cisco, which was making its rounds.

Peter had been deployed as part of Certis Cisco's initiative to add on to the existing roving patrol by its officers in Jewel Changi Airport. 

WHAT HAPPENED

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Susanna Yim told the court that on March 24, a report was made by a Certis Cisco aviation security officer at 8.47pm, about an incident involving a damaged Jewel patrol robot. 

Investigations found that about an hour earlier, the officer was notified by a member of public who had witnessed De Sousa use an airport trolley holding his luggage to ram into Peter at the level two kerbside of Jewel Changi Airport.

The officer noticed that Peter not moving and its exterior had been damaged. 

The officer went looking for De Sousa and found him at the coach bay of Changi Airport's Terminal 1. The officer called the police for assistance.

In-house CCTV footage was reviewed and showed De Sousa using an airport trolley to ram into Peter, causing it to fall over. 

Peter sustained S$13,080 in damages and was non-operational for 48 days. During the period that Peter was out of commission, there had been no replacement robot to supplement the roving patrol by officers.

Following his arrest, De Sousa was remanded at IMH for psychiatric assessment between April 20 and May 4. He was then remanded in prison. 

An IMH report said De Sousa had been suffering from a schizophrenic episode when he rammed the robot.

DPP Yim said that taking into account that De Sousa has a mental condition, the prosecution had decided to not seek the two to three months' jail sentence it would otherwise have proposed.

She asked the court to impose a four-week jail term instead.

In response to a question from District Judge James Elisha Lee, DPP Yim also told the court that she will not seek a compensation order from De Sousa.

When asked by District Judge Lee if there was anything he wished to say before sentencing, De Sousa apologised for his actions and said that he was sorry for "all the trouble" he has caused.

For committing mischief, De Sousa could have been jailed for up to two years or fined, or both.